We need a Yelp for rating politicians: Guest commentary

Yelp is a wildly popular Web service that allows customers to offer public reviews of the companies and professionals they patronize. Diners rate restaurants, patients rate their doctors, dentists and health clinics, and shoppers rate their malls. But, at least so far, Yelp does not allow constituents to rate politicians.

That should change. We all need more feedback on those who represent, or seek to represent, us. Now is the perfect time to build a website to provide the public with something almost unheard of — useful information about politicians.

In the run-up to elections, our televisions and radios carry ads extolling the virtues, or warning of the vices, of our candidates. But few of these missives contain independent, factual information.

This lack of helpful, substantive information leaves an ill-informed electorate grasping for answers. What is the solution? Let’s create a dynamic website to review our politicians based on a number of objective factors. And unlike well-intentioned but snoozy websites that provide information on politicians, let’s promote a robust comment and ranking system.

There are many ways to review and rank politicians. First, the site should describe every politician’s views on a broad but uniform set of issues, both domestic and international: immigration, taxes, education, foreign policy, the budget, and others. This would resemble the restaurant section on Yelp, which includes the hours, price, type of cuisine, requested attire and other items for all listed eateries. Whether you want a politician in favor of a path to citizenship and school vouchers — or an Indian restaurant that is good for kids and has outdoor seating — you’d be covered.

Second, just as on Yelp, there would be a comment section. Did you receive mediocre service at the neighborhood Chinese restaurant? Did your city council member respond to your request to fix the potholes on your street?

But this raises a larger question: Do enough of us interact with our candidates and elected officials to be able to review them? Yelp is based, at least in part, on the premise that local businesses are accessible.

When pricier restaurants, hotels or businesses are out of reach for Yelp users, they can click on a single dollar sign to indicate they want to search for businesses on the lower end of the price range.

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In an ideal world, politicians are accessible to all of their constituents. But, thanks in large part to the U.S. Supreme Court and less-than-gutsy legislators, today’s reality is that those who can pay are the only people who have regular access to politicians. Too many of our politicians are akin to the four-dollar sign restaurants on Yelp: They are open only to a select few.

Could we rate politicians according to cost, as we already do steakhouses? I can think of a variety of “cost measures” for politicians. One might be based on campaign fundraising and spending. Or we could rate them on the median amount of the campaign donations they receive.

Making such information available would raise questions about the more “expensive” politicians. How big of a donation does it take to get a meeting? Are there some politicians who score big contributions but still make time for those who don’t provide monetary support? Are politicians who raise small amounts from many people accessible, or too busy fundraising?

Constituent comments and ratings could answer such questions and create an incentive for politicians to be accessible and responsive. Interest groups from the National Rifle Association to the Sierra Club rate politicians by their votes on certain issues as a means of getting more of the results they want. Why shouldn’t the rest of us get in on the game?

Yelp sells itself as “the best way to find great local businesses.” Why can’t a similar site be the “best way to find great politicians”?

Jessica A. Levinson is an associate clinical professor at Loyola Law School-Los Angeles. She wrote this for Zocalo Public Square.